Happy Presidents Day! We'll start the show today with a discussion about the future of winter sports on a warming planet. Plus we take a look back at the 1984 Olympics. Then, tonight, Jimmy Fallon takes the helm of "The Tonight Show," costume designer Michael Wilkinson talks about dressing the stars of "American Hustle," pharmacists are taking on larger roles in primary care, plus much more.
The future of winter sports on a warming planet
Earlier today, several events in the Sochi Winter Olympics had to be rescheduled due to foggy conditions. The men's biathlon 15K and the snow board cross event were both postponed.
It's not the first time Mother Nature has failed to cooperate. Earlier in the week, sunny weather made for slushy snow. Several cross country skiers even resorted to cutting the sleeves off their uniforms.
While the warm conditions aren't that out of the ordinary for the region, the balmy weather raises the question: What will be the future of the winter sports on a warming planet?
It's a subject Porter Fox wrote about recently in an Op-Ed in the New York Times. He's an editor for Powder magazine and the author of "Deep: The Story of Skiing and the Future of Snow."
Why were the 1984 LA Olympics one of the most successful ever?
The Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, will wrap up this Sunday, but they came at a remarkable price: It cost an estimated $50 billion to hold them, one of the most expensive games ever.
For all the great global attention the Games can bring to a city, being a host can be a financial strain. Montreal, for example, hosted the 1976 Summer Games and took 30 years to pay off its debt.
However, one notable exception is the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. It's sometimes called the most successful games ever. That's because a combination of already-existing infrastructure and the constraints of a tight budget allowed the designers to not be dragged down by construction delays and overruns.
At the forefront of that effort was the design firm The Jerde Partnership. Co-CEO John Simones, then a designer with the company, explained to A Martinez about the philosophies and secrets that help make those Olympics a triumph.
Water czar leaves big legacy and lessons for dry Southwest
California is coping with the worst drought in recorded history. California's governor has asked state residents to cut back water use by 20 percent.
The rest of the Southwest is also experiencing extreme to severe drought.
In the first part of a water series we’re calling Pipe Dreams, Laurel Morales from the Fronteras Desk went to Las Vegas to talk to a woman who has redefined water management in the west, outgoing water czar Pat Mulroy.
Jimmy Fallon ushers in new era of 'The Tonight Show'
Tonight, Jimmy Fallon officially takes over "The Tonight Show," but he does so amidst a very different media landscape from the one that launched the show in back in 1954.
Today's audiences, especially the coveted younger demographic, are just as likely to watch "The Tonight Show" on you tube the next day. For more on how Jimmy Fallon might affect who watches the program and when, we're joined by Michael O'Connell of The Hollywood Reporter.
The art of binge watching 'House of Cards'
Looking for ways to count down the hours until Jimmy Fallon's big debut, you could spend them watching a whole lot of Kevin Spacey.
Season two of the hit Netflix show "House of Cards" premiered Friday, and in true Netflix fashion, all 13 episodes became available at the same time. We wanted to talk about the art of the binge watch and whether the new season of the Netflix hit stacks up to the hype. Our producer Lauren Osen has been binge-watching the series, and joins us on the phone from her couch.
On The Lot: Ellen Page, Scientific and Technical Oscars, and more
Time for On the Lot, our weekly summary of news from the movie business with LA Times reporter Rebecca Keegan.
We start with a moment that has been buzzing all weekend. Ellen Page came out during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign Conference on Friday night. Not a huge surprise to a lot of people, but it was a big moment.
Some other unseen corners of Hollywood celebrated over the weekend. The Scientific and Technical Oscars were held on Saturday. This year's ceremony was kind of a throwback . The Academy celebrated "film," the actual physical medium that made this industry, which is now disappearing in favor of digital. How did they honor this legacy?
The hairstylist and makeup guilds also held an awards ceremony over the weekend, but it was kind of a bittersweet occasion. Why was this an important event for this industry?
Speaking of runaway production, the film "Gravity" just won the BAFTA, the big award for British film. How is this a British film?
Hollywood Jobs: Michael Wilkinson on costuming 'American Hustle'
Michael Wilkinson has designed costumes for movies including "Man of Steel," "TRON: Legacy," and "Twilight," among many others. This year, his work on the film "American Hustle" has earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design.
As part of our series on Hollywood Jobs, A Martinez visits Wilkinson's workspace to hear how he developed the wardrobe for "American Hustle."
Pharmacists are taking on a bigger role in primary care
It used to be you, if you were sick, you'd call your doctor and go in for a checkup. But as patient loads increase, medical doctors don't always have time to see or consult you for every ailment.
Now, pharmacists are picking up some of that slack and starting to play a bigger role in primary care. For more on this growing trend, we turn to Anna Gorman of Kaiser Health News.
How Covered California failed to market itself to Latinos
Now to the ongoing effort to enroll folks in the Affordable Care Act. Since the process began, California has been scrambling to sign up Latinos.
So far, the state's health insurance marketplace, known as Covered California, has come up short on that front. One reason? Weak advertising.
The California Report's April Dembosky explains how the state's Latino marketing missteps have effected the program overall.
Bottle recycling bill seeks redemption from wine lovers
For most people, putting cans and bottles into the recycling bin marks the last time they'll ever think about them, but there's a crisis in California's recycling program. Some people say a simple change involving wine bottles could be the solution. Reporter Amy Standen has the story.
A Mexican folk remedy for a broken heart
We've all heard about love potions and other concoctions designed to make someone fall head-over-heels. But what about a special brew to fix a broken heart?
For the California Report, Sara Bernard catches up with a clinical herbalist and folk healer to learn about a special heart remedy, and to participate in a traditional ceremony to help transcend her own loss.
Actress Lupita Nyong'o talks about her role in '12 Years A Slave'
Fresh out of Yale's prestigious School of Drama, Lupita Nyong'o landed a role in the new film by acclaimed director Steve McQueen, "12 Years A Slave".
In the film, Nyong'o plays Patsey, one of the hardest working slaves on a cotton plantation in Louisiana. The slave master there is a brutal man who abuses her in all sorts of ways.
Host Alex Cohen recently had the chance to talk with Lupita Nyong'o and asked her how she prepared for this incredibly dramatic role.
Interview Highlights:
On how she immersed herself in the role of Patsey:
"What Patsey when through is real. One can look at it and be floored by it and ask oneself, "how?" But when I was given this role, I just recognized that someone actually lived through it so I could surely live through imagining it. And just it being real was always so grounding and it was practical, you know? She couldn't sentimentalize her pain and so neither could I in playing her."
On the intense makeup she had to endure during the film:
"Patsey has scars from before the epic whipping, from previous beatings, so the day before we did that epic scene I had the pre-whipping scars on and it took four hours of sitting in that chair. So the next day I looked at the call sheet for the next day and it was going to be six hours. I had to get up at three in the morning and be in makeup for six hours.
"I said to the makeup artist, 'Look, let me just sleep in these scars because then we'll cut our work in half." And of course, she loved the idea…I went home and I slept in the scars and they were so haunting. I couldn't sleep on anything, but my stomach because I did not want to mess them up. I was just aware of them the whole night and while I was doing '12 Years a Slave' I was an insomniac. I just could not sleep, but that particular night, I got even less sleep because of these scars. I just remember weeping in the night and then I recognized that my discomfort was temporary and the woman who I was playing was permanent. It still brings me to tears."
On the dolls she made for her character Patsey:
"I have trouble taking credit for it because I just feel like it was Patsey's guidance. Part of my ritual was I talked to her every day before I got on set because I do believe these spirits live on. So about a week before we started filming, I was daydreaming in my hotel room as I like to do just about the work and Patsey and just asking myself what would she do in the little free time she had. I knew that Epps grew corn on his plantation so it just occurred to me, 'Oh what if she made crafts out of corn husks?'
"I look it up on the internet and it was historically accurate that slaves did make crafts out of corn husks and then there was always something very child-like about Patsey. She had been robbed of her childhood by master Epps taking an early interest in her sexually and so I thought, 'Oh, wouldn't it be nice if she made corn husk dolls for the children on the plantation?' It was just something that I was going to know, but then the next day I had a meeting with Steve and he was asking me about Patsey and what I was thinking and I mentioned it to him and he loved the idea. So he immediately had the art department supply me with corn husk and I went about learning how to make corn husk dolls."
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about new book 'The Bully Pulpit'
Theodore Roosevelt was famous for manipulating the media to get what he wanted but also gave them unprecedented access to the internal machinations of government.
How are things different under President Obama?
Pulitzer-prize winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin joins Take Two to talk about the Progressive Era and her sixth book, "The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism."